Paddlesteamer 400 BP - Dirt Hurt
Just one ride, I'd like for derros not to put a downer on it.
This one out classed itself, where when I went for a look around Eudunda; a pack of 10 or more staffies were in a front yard, with a beat up, grafitti covered car out front. Just ride past.
Ordinarily, no big deal. Only the fence was mid thigh height, and two of the pack had zero trouble leaping it.
I stopped and got off the bike - didnt want to encourage chasing - leaving my bike between me and the biggest one.
They circled me, and one kept coming in at my leg: for a bite or a nip, its unclear, I swear I felt it touch me. Every time it darted in, I'd square up and yell in my best drill sargeant tones, GET BACK INSIDE.
This kept happening, and I slowly backed up, to put the car plus bike on one flank.
By this time, it's caused a commotion, and the owner comes out of a shed.
Normally I have a bit of a chat and am friendly: playful dogs arent unusual.
So I wave, and say: "friendly lot, arent they?"
Dickhead says: "get away from my car you c---"
Wtaf.
"Are you f'ing kidding me? Control your f-ing dogs"
But he makes no attempt to. Just keeps abusing me.
I'm pretty irate by this point, and keep instructing him to call his dogs, stuff his car (i thought it was an abandoned wreck at first), and keep moving away.
This derro idiot doesnt grasp some basic concepts like "a pack of dogs is poised to attack", clearly, and keeps screaming abuse.
So about 5 minutes after I got clear, I submitted complaints to the council (who were closed, but recommended SAPOL for after hours)
For his lack of responsible dog ownership, he'll be facing...
- $315 for the dog attack
- $170 for unregistered dogs x10 (willing to bet if he cant make a safe area for the animals he doesnt care enough to register them!)
- May end up being the catalyst for dog number by laws in residential housing in Eudunda, which I'm sure will go down well at the local pub
Enough about bogans, onto the good... uhm... other stuff. In no particular order:
I nearly ran over two separate koalas descending gorge road, 1 km apart, through rolling ground level fog and drizzle. I yelled at one, having braked, to moveeeee! It got up and plodded more directly into my path after looking at me. Smooth brained marsupial logic.
Because of the cold rain through the hills, I was constantly coughing. The huge headwind for 100km+ had irritated my throat, leaving a sense of cottonmouth even though I was fully or overly hyrdated.
When the rain hit, my body kept trying to make mucus (ick), which then my body hated and triggered a coughing fit to be rid of it.
I hadnt expected rain, so though I had 4 layers including raincoat; I was in short gloves (again) and quickly those got soaked.
My body drew all the blood internally, leaving my limbs freezing no matter what I did, and I couldn't even free-spin to get my heart rate up; due to fatigue and constant descending.
The wet gloves on metal aerobars acted like a huge air conditioner.
I found a public toilet in birdwood at 4am, stuffed toilet paper as insulation into my gloves and layers; plus monopolised the hand drier to try to raise my core temp. It worked enough to keep riding.
Minor derro moment 2.0 - its 4am, and some local hoodlum is sitting outside. I think "bike is coming with me!"; and go in; to hear the toilet flush and his mate walks straight out.
HE DIDNT WASH HIS HANDS DURING A PANDEMIC.
So, I was dry wretching a bit with that image in my head for a chunk of the descent.
Gettin to Mt Pleasant wasnt fun, but its the old staple of Palmer Hill, in the dark, at that part of a 400 where you cant climb anymore.
Part of this course, I put in gravel/dirt roads. Long Valley Road out of Mannum - very, very nice. Bit corrugated, but mentally stimulating for 8-10km to give it a go.
Its when I turned off that, it got ugly. 25mm tyres and a fully laden bike, vs... sand.
After hitting a deep loose patch, and nearly coming off with both wheels biting in; I slowed the pace to a crawl; only to find I was 750m away from my turn and it was softer than the beach. I ended up walking through most of that.
But then it rained on me, so sand stuck to my wheels - already not great for descending in the wet, carbon vs caliper brakes... now with sand too!
So I spent a fair amount of time cleaning the brake surface; so descending would be safe.
The headwind, earlier, ruined me. Aerobars, in a time trial tuck, I was only managing 16.2kmh for big stretches of it. My world for a few hours was a 2m patch infront of me, trying to ride tempo amd not look up.
Punong? Is a ferry crossing I hadnt done, but highly recommend it as a way into Mannum. Once you clumb back up from the river, it flowy mild descents all the way.
I couldnt make it that simple though, and went down to Teal Flat. Weirdly, it said no through road, but my route connected; so I went ahead. Lovely bit of riverside gravel, then it turned into a climb - rocky, technical for a road bike, etc.
Confusingly though, this road terminated on a cattle grid and a gate. I gingerly crossed it, and looked at the gate - "private road".
If there were other signs on the way in, I totally missed them. Oops.
Earlier in the day, out to Morgan was simply amazing. Descending, and a tailwind - I easily held 26kmh average by mostly just sitting on aerobars and occasionally peddling for 40km.
And despite the derro, the pie at the Eudunda Bakery was amazing; as was the nice random lady in a park from Orroroo who signed my card and empathically wished me well.
And that... was my last ride to complete the audax 200, 300, 400, 600 this season; which ends in October.
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